Appendix V. Survey of SNAP E&T Case Management Study Description_revision1_clean

Appendix V. Study description

OMB No. 0584-[NEW]

Survey of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Employment and Training (E&T) Case Management

July 5, 2021

Project Officer: Kristen Corey

Office of Policy Support

Food and Nutrition Service

U.S. Department of Agriculture

1320 Braddock Place

Alexandria, VA 22314

		Survey of SNAP Employment and Training (E&T) Case Management
Study overview	The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is sponsoring the Survey of SNAP E&T Case Management study to examine how agencies provide case management, assessment, and participant reimbursements and other supports in their SNAP E&T programs and to gather best practices and lessons learned. Although many SNAP agencies have provided case management for a number of years, in-depth information about case management approaches and the characteristics of services is lacking, including how agencies assess SNAP E&T participants’ needs and connect them with participant reimbursements and other support services. To help develop a deeper understanding of case management for SNAP E&T, FNS has contracted with Mathematica who, with its subcontractor Social Policy Research Associates, is undertaking a study to (1) describe agencies’ approaches to SNAP E&T case management, (2) provide a comprehensive picture of agencies’ approaches to assessing SNAP E&T participants, (3) document agencies’ approaches to offering participant reimbursements and other supports, and (4) describe agencies’ responses to a new case management requirement in the 2018 Farm Bill.
Key study tasks	The study involves several key tasks that will inform the findings, including: Surveying all 53 SNAP E&T agencies. The survey will provide a high-level understanding of how each SNAP E&T program approaches case management including how they assess and provide participant reimbursements and other supports to participants and responses to the new case management program requirement. Conducting in-depth case studies of four SNAP E&T programs. The case studies will provide a detailed understanding of how four SNAP E&T programs provide case management, assess participants, and offer participant reimbursements and other supports. Trained interviewers from the study team will interview SNAP administrators, local SNAP agency staff, and E&T provider staff and observe case management and assessment activities. The team will also request aggregate administrative data, as well as policy memos and other relevant documents.

Public Burden Statement

According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is 0584-xxxx. The time required to complete this information collection is estimated to average 4 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to the following address: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Services, Office of Policy Support, 1320 Braddock Place, Alexandria, VA 22314, ATTN: PRA (0584-xxxx). Do not return the completed form to this address.

Study schedule	The study began in September 2019 and will continue through September 2022. Documents and aggregate administrative data will be collected from case study agencies in the fall/winter of 2020, the survey will be fielded in the spring and summer of 2021, and the case study site visits will be conducted in the spring of 2021.
Study products	The study team will produce a final report that will summarize the aggregate survey results, discuss findings from each case study, and include 53 standalone profiles highlighting State- and territory-specific information. The report will document general lessons learned, best practices, and areas for improvement for SNAP E&T case management, assessment, and provision of participant reimbursements and other supports that FNS and the SNAP agencies can use to inform their practice.
To learn more	Contact the Mathematica project director, Kristen Joyce, at kjoyce@mathematica-mpr.com. Contact the FNS project officer, Kristen Corey, at kristen.corey@usda.gov.